Nomad Crossroads: Algerian Poetry Now
Wednesday, December 2nd, 6pm
@ Columbia University
La Maison française
Standing at the crossroads of several languages and literary traditions, contemporary North African poetry is little known in the US despite its vitality, to which attests the recently published University of California Book of North African Literature (ed. Pierre Joris and Habib Tengour). This event will give a taste of it in the company of one of its most brilliant practitioners. Visiting from Algiers, Samira Negrouche will read a selection of her poems, with English translations by Anna Moschovakis. She will also engage in a conversation with Pierre Joris and Omar Berrada, on her work and on the contemporary poetic landscape in Algeria and the Maghreb.
Samira Negrouche is an Algerian poet who writes in French. Trained as a doctor, she lives in Algiers where she is now devoting herself exclusively to her writing projects.
Anna Moschovakis is a writer, translator, and educator who also edits books with the Brooklyn-based publishing collective Ugly Duckling Presse.
Pierre Joris’ recent publications include Barzakh: Poems 2000–2012 (Black Widow Press) & Breathturn into Timestead: The Collected Later Poetry of Paul Celan (FSG).
Omar Berrada is a writer and translator, and the director of Dar al-Ma’mûn, a library and artists’ residency in Marrakech.